Although I do not live in her district, I am a member in good standing of the DFL (what the state Democratic Party is called here in Minnesota), and I have contacted my congressman, state senator, and state rep (all DFLers) as well as DFL Governor Tim Walz and Senator Tina Smith to ask that she be censured or preferably expelled from the party. If that doesn’t get her out, I will be donating to her strongest primary opponent next year, and maybe even travelling to her district to volunteer on behalf of that opponent. This is just not acceptable.
:mad: I defended her on the “Benjamins” thing, which I thought might be innocent (and she’s right that AIPAC is a malignancy on our body politic). But that benefit of the doubt now appears to be unwarranted. She has to go.
(I also posted about this in the Pit, for those who want to see the more ragey version.)
I see where she’s coming from but I think she’s being naive if she thinks her seat is secure. It’ll only take an in-party primary challenge to make her compete. And that’s not out of the question in that district. And making fun of Obama for any reason in a district that runs 16% black or African-American (Census numbers) is pretty risky.
She’s not going to make it easier on herself by overstating and apologizing repeatedly. At some point Pelosi and company are going to decide they need to find someone to challenge her. Even another ardent lefty type might be better. Remember, from the Politico article she’s only in her second term as elected anything. There’s bound to be someone out there able to take her on.
Well said, JC. And as I say, it’s not just up to Pelosi. Our state party is so strong, it has stubbornly retained its own special name (DFL), and there are sure to be other DFLers in her district (or close enough that they could easily move in) who are licking their chops over the prospect of taking her on and sort of “jumping the queue” to get into Congress.
I have no expertise in that particular district and cannot say whether a successful primary challenge is feasible or not. But I would bet that Nancy Pelosi and many other pillars of the moderate Democratic wing are going to be spending quite a bit of time trying to find any way that Omar can be removed from office. Tlaib and AOC as well, probably.
I’m not a huge AOC fan by any means (I actually Pitted her as well, a few weeks back). But if she has done or said anything that would justify getting torpedoed by Pelosi, I missed it. Tlaib I have only vaguely heard of–what did she do?
I looked her up on Wikipedia just now, and I don’t see any reason to put her in the same category as Omar. Everything they quote her as saying about Israel, I would endorse. On impeachment, she’s certainly right on the merits, although I don’t know if it’s the best political strategy. (She and others might say that this is too grave a question, too important a responsibility, to make political considerations any part of it, and I totally respect that POV even if I don’t share it.)
She’s not attacking Obama, she’s making a nuanced criticism of our political system in general - saying that there’s something inherently broken on it, such that even a talented and well meaning politician like Obama was unable to overcome its brokenness.
There’s an even bigger danger for Democrats than Omar losing her seat - they could actually lose Minnesota in statewide elections, possibly even the presidential election, although Trump seems pretty unpopular there. But still, what’s getting lost is that Minnesota as a state is not a rubber-stamp blue state. They’ve had a Republican Senator, a Republican governor, and they flirted with Trump in 2016.
I basically agree with this, but I think she also needs to understand the consequences of the media she uses to deliver her messages. And fair or not, she’s going to be a target.
Since we’re talking about Obama, I think there are lessons Omar could learn from the former president. Barack Obama was acutely aware of the political realities he was entering into. He knew he would face unprecedented scrutiny and was extremely careful to navigate those political sea mines. He was realistic about how he would be perceived and he worked with a highly professional team to avoid getting needlessly sucked into culture wars with off-the-cuff remarks.
Yeah, good point. One reason MN was uncomfortably close in 2016 is that many Minnesotans (and not just right wing ones by any means) have felt increasingly uncomfortable with the large amount of Somali immigration to the state in the past 25 years, which started from basically zero because of a seemingly random decision by the federal government: Good Question: Why Did Somalis Locate Here? - CBS Minnesota
Omar is, to say the least, not exactly helping this become a smooth and harmonious integration of the population into our state. :smack:
I think her comments regarding Obama come from the same place as her comments on Israel. I agree with iiandyii: I don’t think she intended to insult Obama, but she did. The problem isn’t what’s in her heart; it’s what she says and writes. She needs an intervention, or she’s going to be problematic for Democrats.
Omar’s used to sending out tweets without consequences. There’s a world of difference between making some remarks during a primarily local campaign and making those kinds of remarks as a national political figure once elected to congress. Her supporters ‘got’ her, but she’s now responsible for helping a party govern, and it’s her responsibility not to get in the way. But she’s getting in the way, and if it continues, she’s going to find herself on an island, and almost certainly primaried.
She’s claiming Obama engaged in the same cruel practices republicans do. Which is true. Drone strikes, kids in cages, not to mention the prosecution of whistleblowers and the use of massive state surveillance.
(although with kids in cages, that was used sporadically when the US gov though kids were being trafficked. The Trump admin uses that as the default tactic).
Then Obama would go out and try to act charming and hope nobody noticed these policies. That seems to be her point and it is spot on.
The problem is that she belongs to the DFL and benefits from that membership. Most of us DFLers (and Democrats more broadly) strenuously disagree with you, and her, and in fact we feel she is engaging in slanderous calumnies against a leader we cherish. (Within an arms reach of where I sit now are both Michelle Obama’s biography and Pete Souza’s coffee table book documenting in photographic form the Obamas’ eight years in the White House.) You and she are entitled to your opinions, but are not entitled to continue to be in good standing as high profile members of the party once you voice them.
The RNC thanks you for making no effort to engage in an actual adult and potentially challenging conversation about policy and politics that might move our party forward, but rather slacking into a knee-jerk, nuance-free tantrum that helps them divide us.
No, you’re not dividing us. You’re just falling into the RNC propaganda narrative – one that is very popular even in the mainstream media – that nuanced discussion about Democratic policy and politics within the party is unthinkable. Engaging nuanced criticism of the party and politics in general, like Omar’s criticism, is a good and positive thing for the party. Dismissing it in a knee-jerk way, as you’re doing, is a bad and negative thing that hurts the party and helps Trump and the Republicans. Please don’t do their job for them. Put some thought into it and actually engage, in a thoughtful and adult way, this sort of reasonable and nuanced criticism. It doesn’t mean you have to agree with it, but this is how adults can and should talk about policy and politics.